Recently, a couple of our resident Michaels got the chance to demo Halo: Flashpoint.
Halo: Flashpoint is Mantic’s upcoming fast paced player versus player miniature skirmish game, based on their Deadzone ruleset. Mantic have taken to the road recently, offering demos and a chance to get hands-on at events including Adepticon and Salute. I had a chance to catch up with Andy Burdis at Salute this year to get a demo of Halo: Flashpoint for myself.
Slated for release in September 2024, with pre-orders up now, you can pick from either the Recon or Spartan edition. The Recon edition at £60 ($75) gets you 8 Spartans, heavy cardstock terrain, playmat, rules, weapon cards, reference cards and dice. The Spartan edition is available for £100 ($125) and gets you 16 Spartans, 4 Banished Elites, a heavy cardstock play board, twice as many weapon cards, extra tokens, extra player/model cards, additional reference cards, extra command dice, and some plastic 3D arena accessories.
Salute was busier than ever, and I was lucky enough to catch Andy from Mantic for a demo of Halo: Flashpoint. Everything happens on a 24″ x 24″ board, with plenty of dense terrain to provide cover and line of sight blocking. The cardstock terrain used for the demo board is the same stuff that will be in the starters and it felt very sturdy, with double sided printing for some extra variety. It reminded me of the cardstock found in the Infinity CodeOne starters, and from previous experience this has held up well. If you’re tight on space you can always take the terrain apart but if you want something a little sturdier it can all be glued.
Zach and I took control of a two Spartan fireteam for the demo game, facing off against a couple of other Salute attendees. Kicking the game off, each Spartan fireteam rolls their command dice to see which special actions will be available to them during the turn.
Turns are broken out with alternating activations, and at the start of each one players roll command dice to see which special action they’re going to have available to them. Zach took the initiative and was in control of a Spartan kitted out with a Designated Marksman Rifle. Lining up a shot against one of our opponents, Zach started with three attack dice, because he was at the same level on the board and the target model was in cover he didn’t pick up any bonus dice here. However, the DMR he was equipped with had the Optics keyword giving him critical rolls on a 7+ instead of an 8, and an extra attack dice. Combined with taking the Crouch short action he now had 5 attack dice in his pool. Landing two hits and a critical hit giving an extra roll for a total of three hits, our opponent then checked his Save stat and manages to make two of the three with his base dice. One energy shield down, Zach spends a command dice for a follow up shot as an extra action and takes out the last energy shield but doesn’t quite have enough damage to punch through their armour.
The first opposing Spartan moves up during their turn and returns fire at Zach, but isn’t able to beat his armour.
I’m up, and I’ve had my eye on the Gravity Hammer since the start of the game. A big stack of keywords and it’s just sat their begging to be picked up. Jumping down from my vantage point I grab the hammer and move in to cover. I thought I’d be safe for the turn.
It’s the second opposing Spartan’s activation and they crouch then open fire. I take a withering amount of fire for my hubris, and we all get to learn how respawning works after they land a devastating number of hits that even energy shields and armour can’t stop. Dropping the hammer where I’m killed, I take Spartan Zvezda out of the arena. Each team has a pair of respawn points on the board and killed Spartans can enter from either of their corresponding colours as a short action at the start of a turn.
Halo: Flashpoint has the characteristic slick Mantic rules, creating a dynamic and fast game that really did remind me of lunch times spent in Zanzibar and Sanctuary. The cube based movement makes everything feel very fluid and the important of positioning is capture without adding too much weight to the resolution process. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the full release, and it promises to be a game you could still fit in to a lunch break.
There’s already plans for expansions and while lists will be fixed at release, to provide an easy entry point for board gamers and wargamers alike, list building will be available at a later date so you can run your own custom fireteams.
If you’d like to find out more, or pre-order, then head over to Mantic’s official site for Halo: Flashpoint.
